TY - JOUR
T1 - The city never sleeps
T2 - But when will investment banks wake up to the climate crisis?
AU - Cojoianu, Theodor F.
AU - Hoepner, Andrea G.F.
AU - Schneider, Fabiola I.
AU - Urban, Michael
AU - Vu, Anh
AU - Wójcik, Dariusz
PY - 2021/11/25
Y1 - 2021/11/25
N2 - Using a global dataset of over 840,000 equity, bond and syndicated loan investment banking deals, we build the fossil fuel investment brokerage profile of financial centres worldwide between 2000 and 2018. We also study whether city-level fossil fuel divestment commitments and country-level green banking policies impact the profile of fossil fuel financial centres over our study timeframe. We find that several financial centres shift their fossil fuel investment brokerage profiles substantially, including the asset classes in which they are active. However, we do not find any evidence that this is driven by city-level divestment commitments. In contrast, we find that fossil fuel investment banking brokers situated in financial centres exposed to voluntary green banking policies reduce their fossil fuel financing. This is driven by foreign brokers whose behaviour appears to signal an anticipation of forthcoming mandatory green finance policies.
AB - Using a global dataset of over 840,000 equity, bond and syndicated loan investment banking deals, we build the fossil fuel investment brokerage profile of financial centres worldwide between 2000 and 2018. We also study whether city-level fossil fuel divestment commitments and country-level green banking policies impact the profile of fossil fuel financial centres over our study timeframe. We find that several financial centres shift their fossil fuel investment brokerage profiles substantially, including the asset classes in which they are active. However, we do not find any evidence that this is driven by city-level divestment commitments. In contrast, we find that fossil fuel investment banking brokers situated in financial centres exposed to voluntary green banking policies reduce their fossil fuel financing. This is driven by foreign brokers whose behaviour appears to signal an anticipation of forthcoming mandatory green finance policies.
KW - brokerage
KW - fossil fuel divestment
KW - fossil fuel financial centres
KW - green banking policies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122260421&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00343404.2021.1995601
DO - 10.1080/00343404.2021.1995601
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122260421
SN - 0034-3404
JO - Regional Studies
JF - Regional Studies
ER -